Mumbai’s crime rate seems to have come down marginally from 362 cases per one lakh population in 2015 to 320.9 cases in 2016, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Crime rate is defined as criminal cases per one lakh population.

In 2016, the Mumbai Police had registered 59,072 cases under the Indian Penal Code and state laws, a 12 per cent dip over 2015 in which a total of 66,676 cases were registered by the
city police.

In the country’s top 19 metropolitan cities, which have a population of over 20 lakh, Mumbai ranks 3rd in the share of crime incidents preceded only by Delhi and Chennai. However, in terms of crime rate, Mumbai comes down the
order at 15.

The Mumbai Police registered 6,096 crimes which were classified as violent in 2016. The rate for violent crimes in Mumbai stands at 33.1 cases per lakh citizen as against the average of 40.6 in the top metropolitan cities of the country. The number of murders that took place in the city also came down from 169 in 2015 to 147 in 2016. The crime rate for murder in Mumbai stands at 0.8 per lakh population as against the average for metro cities, which is almost double at 1.9.

The number of kidnapping cases has, however, jumped almost three-fold from 541 in 2014 to 1949 in 2016. Mumbai ranks number two in kidnapping after Delhi, which saw 5,925 cases in the same period. The crime rate for kidnapping has also increased from 8.6 in 2015 to 10.6. The average for metro cities is 13.2.

Officials, however, said the jump in kidnapping cases was a result of the strict implementation of a Supreme Court order which directed the police to treat all complaints about missing children as possible kidnapping cases. The incidents of rape in Mumbai were less than the average for metro cities. With 712 incidents of rape, the crime rate for rape in Mumbai stands at 8.4 against the average of 9.1 in metro cities.

However, assault on women is still a cause for concern with the city police registering a high number of such cases. There were a total of 2,083 incidents of assault on women, which is the second highest after Delhi where 3,746 such cases were filed. The crime rate for assault on women was 25.6 as against the metro average of 19.3.

There was also a sharp increase in crimes committed against children in the city, with 3,400 cases reported to the police in 2017. As against this, there were 3,187 cases in 2016 and 1,456 in 2015. In terms of total incidents of crime, Mumbai ranked number 2 among metropolitan cities after Delhi.

Kidnapping accounted for the majority of crimes committed against children. The police also registered 979 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, in which there were 989 victims.

According to last year’s data, Mumbai also recorded the maximum number of white collar crimes, with 2,637 incidents of cheating reported to the police, apart from 808 cases of forgery. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com